


Tim and the Endless

by robinfan2



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics), The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 19:17:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinfan2/pseuds/robinfan2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim is just a kid from Bristol who is on first-name basis with the most unusual characters, none of them human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tim and the Endless

THEY come to him whenever something big's going down. Always.

Tim does not remember when they began visiting him. Delirium told him - sort of because everything she tells him has to go through some kind of translation system in his brain - he has met all her siblings one time or another since the day he was born.

The earliest memory he has of meeting one of her kind is when he was three years old at the grounds of Amusement Mile. He had become separated from his parents, so intent was he to touch the elephant snacking on a watermelon. He panicked to see he was alone among the crowds a moment later, and he began running, searching for his mother and father.

"Hello, little bird!" 

The voice was sharp yet beckoning. Tim found himself facing a tall, pale woman... or man... he couldn't tell but he didn't care. He/She was strikingly gorgeous, the amber-coloured eyes holding Tim's dark-blue eyes with such knowing intensity, the boy blushed.

"My child, what's wrong?" The stranger is wearing the most outrageous harlequin outfit Tim had ever seen in his young life. His/Her halter strapped dress was solid black in one side with black-and-white diamond design on the other. The short pouf skirt was half white and half black hemmed with red. He/She was wearing thigh-high stockings, the left white with vertical black stripes and the other white with black diamond shapes. His/her shoulders were bare, but her left arm was covered in a long, red leather glove, the right with its black counterpart. The red, dangerously high stilettos complemented the red hearts lining the middle of her dress.

"Mommy... Daddy..." It was hard enough not knowing that many words to explain his predicament, facing such a formidable person was overwhelming.

He/She smiled at him. "Oh, you're lost. Would you like me to help you find your way?"

He nodded. "Yes, please."

"Such a delightful child!" Tim took the hand offered. "I don't usually fraternise with your kind but..."

"Oh." Tim stopped, feeling shamed. "I'm sorry to bother you... Ma'am... Sir..."

He/She laughed, the sound painfully clear. "You are _special_! Little bird, you are adorably special. Come, we shall find your parents."

It was a strange encounter. Their walk seemed to have taken the whole day. All the while the Stranger, who walked with the grace of a cat, spoke of him tales he was told would help him understand and survive the pitfalls the world would soon throw his way.

He/She told him the tale of a young mermaid who gave up her voice, her family, her legacy and eventually her life. All for the love of a prince who, unaware of her sacrifices, never saw her more than a friend or a sister. 

Tim also heard the story of a beautiful maiden's step-sisters cutting off their toes to fit a glass slipper. A girl in a red hood and her grandmother devoured by a wolf. He felt horrified for the sleeping princess ravaged by a king in her sleep and cheered for the two children who pushed the witch in a fiery oven after she trapped them in a gingerbread house.

"You know so many stories!"

The Stranger laughed, this time the sound musical and sweet to his ears. He/She pointed to a couple at a distance. "Time to go, little one."

His parents saw him then, worry in their faces. Tim started to run but stopped to turn and give a little bow to the Stranger. "Thank you, sir... ma'am..."

He/She gave him an amused smile. "Until next time, little bird. Remember, love comes regardless from wherever it may be. It is _never_ unexpected. One knows if one is wise enough. Run along now."

His mother hugged him tightly as soon as he reached her. When Tim turned to show his parents his kind benefactor, the beautiful stranger was gone. 

***

His parents, thankfully, were not angry. Apparently, he disappeared from their sight for a mere minute. Mistaking his confusion with fear, his father thought of having their child's photo taken with the circus's major attraction, the Flying Graysons, who happened to be walking by.

"Umm, excuse us for interrupting, but this is Tim's first time at the circus," his father told the family of acrobats. "We were wondering if you'd let us take your photo with him?"

There was no hesitation on the dark-haired boy to take Tim from this father's arms. The young acrobat then knelt and placed him on his knee, genuinely glad to hold him. After his mother snapped a photo, the older boy ruffled his hair.

"Watch me on the trapeze, Tim. I'm going to do my act - 'specially for _you_. Be good now."

The aerialist's smile took Tim's breath away. He was so bright, so happy in red and green. 

Tim could only nod. He was in love.

***

He saw the Stranger one last time that day. He/She was not alone. There was a short, rotund woman with pale, clammy skin beside him/her. The woman dragged a hook through the fleshy part of her arm, drawing blood. Tim should be bothered. But he wasn't. It was just her nature.

Tim caught his friend's eye and he/she gave him a slight, mirthless smile before taking a puff from the slender cigarette he/she held in long, unblemished fingers.

He wrenched his eyes off them to watch Dick Grayson complete his quadruple somersault. The whole place roared in admiration and Tim's chest swelled. _Dick did it for me! Dick just did something dangerously marvellous for me!_

He then saw Dick's mother caress his cheek before grabbing the trapeze bar. She flew and her husband, legs wrapped around his own trapeze, swung forward to take her hands. Suddenly they were both falling. Tim never heard the screams around him. His eyes unwavering upon the young aerialist's stricken face as Dick helplessly watched his mother and father hit the sawdust, flesh and blood exploding.

Tim looked back to the beautiful stranger and his/her companion. The short woman's left eye was bleeding, her hook ring bloodied. She was smiling. The tall one merely sighed and put out the cigarette under a stiletto.

**Author's Note:**

> These characters are owned by DC. Batman, Robin, Red Robin, Nightwing and the Sandman comic books are heavily referenced in this work.


End file.
